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Mashed Potatoes

Mashed potatoes are boiled potatoes mashed with butter, salt, and cream or milk, then seasoned with pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel the potatoes.

  2. Cut the potatoes in half.

  3. Cook the potatoes until tender.

  4. Drain the potatoes.

Mash and season

  1. Mash the potatoes fine with a fork or a vegetable masher.

  2. Season the mashed potatoes with butter and salt.

  3. Pour in the cream or milk and beat thoroughly with a wooden spoon until foamy white.

Serve

  1. Transfer the mixture to a serving dish and sprinkle with pepper if desired.

  2. Serve hot with your choice of meats.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starchy base that cooks soft and mashes into a smooth, fluffy texture.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the mash a silky mouthfeel and flavor.
Sweet cream or milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, loosening the mash and making it smooth and light.

The step that matters

Beat the cream or milk in until foamy. Beating thoroughly with a wooden spoon after the liquid is added works it into the starch and makes the mash smooth and light. Overworking cooked potatoes, especially in a food processor, can make them gluey because released starch turns sticky.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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